UP flooded with raw mangoes

Lucknow, May 27 (UNI) The recent strom in and around the Uttar Pradesh capital has created a glut of raw mangoes in the wholesale market.

Raw mangoes find no takers at the wholesale 'mandi' at Dubagga on the Lucknow-Hardoi road. The supply has exceeded demand, but tractor loads of raw mangoes keep pouring in.

The city has reached a saturation point, claim wholesale dealers with an average of 15 to 20 trucks of raw mangoes reching the market on a daily basis. But with few buyers, heaps of raw mango (amia) end up in garbage dumps.

The farmers are being paid 50 to 20 paisa per kg by wholesale dealers in the mandis. The price means heavy losses to the farmers who, many claim, will not be able to even recover the transportation costs.

The glut is likely to continue till farmers find a suitable market outside the city. Traders claim mango chutney, 'murabba' and pickle manufacturers have stored enough quantity for the season.

In the open market, road-side vendors were selling 5 kg of raw mangoes for Rs 10.

Prime mango growing areas in UP are Saharanpur, Muzaffarnager, Bijnore, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Hardoi, Sitapur, Unnao, Lucknow and Barabanki.

About 3,000 truckloads of mangoes have gone waste due to the storm. It is about 40 per cent of the total crop.

Mango is cultivated in almost 42 per cent of the total land under fruit crops in India.

Uttar Pradesh has the largest area of 0.27 million hectares under mango cultivation.

UNI